Catanduanes Rep. Cesar Sarmiento, chairman of the House Committee on Transportation, approved on Monday a substitute bill which seeks to provide special protection to child passengers in motor vehicles.
11 of the panel members approved the bill while two members were against for it.
The proposed “Child Safety in Motor Vehicles Act of 2017,” principally authored by Rep. Mariano Michael Velarde of MABUHAY Partylist stated that it is the policy of the State to ensure the safety of children while being transported in any form of motor vehicle.
Likewise, the State recognizes the right of children to assistance, including proper care and special protection from all forms of neglect, abuse and other conditions prejudicial to their development, including exposure to safety risks while on board vehicles.
Velarde said the Philippine Seat-belt Law or Republic Act No. 8750 mandates the installation of seat belts in front and rear seats of private vehicles. However, the law does not require the use of child restraints or child restraint devices for young children on board.
The bill provides it shall be unlawful for the driver of a privately-owned motor vehicle not to secure at all times a child in a child restraint system while transporting such child on any road, street or highway.
It also provides that even if the child is being secured in a child restraint system, at no instance shall such child be left unaccompanied by an adult in a motor vehicle.
The bill prohibits any child under 12 years old to occupy the front seat of a motor vehicle.
Under the proposal, the term “child” refers to any person 12 years old and below. While “child restraint system” is defined as a device capable of accommodating a child occupant in a sitting or supine position.
Any driver of a privately-owned motor vehicle who fails to secure at all times a child in a child restraint system while transporting such child on any road, street or highway; who left such child unaccompanied by an adult in a motor vehicle; and allows any child under 12 years old to sit in a front seat of a motor vehicle shall be fined P1,000 for the first offense; P2,000 for the second offense; P5,000 and suspension of the driver’s license for a period of one year for the third and succeeding offenses.
Any driver who knowingly allows the use of substandard and/or expired child restraint system or permits the use of child restraint system that does not bear the PS mark or the ICC sticker and certificate shall be fined P1,000 for the first offense; P3,000 for the second offense and P5,000 and the suspension of the driver’s license for a period of one year for the third and succeeding offenses.
Tampering, alteration, forgery and imitation of the PS mark or the ICC stickers in the child restraint system shall be punished with a fine of P50,000 to P100,000 for each and every child restraint system product without prejudice to other penalties imposed in Republic Act No. 7394 or the “Consumer Act of the Philippines.”
Sarmiento also mentioned that among the road safety laws being pushed by the United Nations (UN) and the World Health Organization (WHO), the requirement for the use of child restraint is one of the few remaining, if not the only remaining safety measure that the Philippines has not yet legislated. | (Tina Joyce Laceda – PTV)
